


Memories & Mistletoe

by captainkippen



Series: JATP Appreciation Week 2020 [1]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Christmas, F/M, First Kiss, JATP Appreciation Week 2020, Mistletoe, POV Luke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:02:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27307450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainkippen/pseuds/captainkippen
Summary: Day 1: Write in your favourite character's POV.Luke spends his first Christmas with Julie.Written forJulie and the Phantoms Appreciation Week 2020.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Series: JATP Appreciation Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1993720
Comments: 21
Kudos: 345
Collections: JATP Appreciation Week





	Memories & Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, so this was the first piece in a series of prompt fills written for JATP Appreciation Week on tumblr, organised by the lovely people over at [JATP-week.](https://jatp-week.tumblr.com/)  
> You can also find me on tumblr [here!](https://captainkippen.tumblr.com/)

“What’re you doing?” Luke asked, poofing into the space behind Julie.

She jumped, elbowing him in the ribs instinctively. He winced, laughing, and rolled to the side to look at what she was doing. They were sprawled at the centre of a tiny explosion of clutter. Black bags spilt open, leaving trails of familiar clothes and a variety of other belongings that Luke recognised from life before death. 

“I told you not to do that,” she said with a huff of annoyed amusement.

In one hand, she clutched a collection of Alex’s old CDs and in the other a fading photograph. Luke reached out and she let him take it with a curious look. She didn’t say anything; Julie had learned to tread with care when it came to asking questions about the boys’ past. He was endlessly grateful for it, but he’d found more and more in recent days that he no longer minded so much when she pried. Sometimes, the two of them would lay awake on the garage couch for hours into the night talking about anything and everything. He wanted her to know him as he knew her. To be a part of his life, even if he wasn’t living it anymore.

“I used to have a copy of this in my wallet,” he said, and Julie smiled.

It was a good picture. Him, Alex, Reggie and Bobby all stood on Christmas Tree Lane, beaming at the camera lens with their arms slung around one another. It was a little blurred and their eyes were red from the flash. His mom had taken it. That had been the year that his parents bought him his first guitar. He had been thirteen years old and desperate to grow up.

If only he’d known.

“It’s cute,” Julie said, leaning her head against his shoulder as she peered at it. 

Sometimes, if he thought about it too hard, Luke couldn’t ignore the ache in his chest that reminded him of all the things he was missing out on now there was a headstone with his name on it. Other times, when he was with Julie, that reminder didn’t hurt so much. 

“I’ve never been to Christmas Tree Lane,” she mused, once he’d finished telling her about that Christmas and the attempt at sledding on a snowless hill that he and the boys had made (it had ended up with a visit to the ER, but Reggie would always claim the fun had been worth his fractured wrist). “But we always go to see the big tree at Grove.”

Luke frowned. 

“Grove?”

“Y’know… the famous farmers market?” Julie prompted, sighing and pulling out her phone to Google as he shook his head.

“Oh, that’s why,” she said, turning the screen towards him. “The whole tree thing was started after you… y’know.”

“Bit it?”

She elbowed him again, gentler this time, with a rueful smile.

“You should come with us this year.”

He looked at the giant tree on the screen surrounded by the merry faces of visitors and thought back to the quiet Christmases spent with his parents. Their little tree was always crooked somehow, decorated with a mishmash of lovingly handcrafted ornaments and warped salt-dough creations made by Luke in elementary school. It was his favourite time of year. It hurt to think about. He wondered if it hurt his mom to think about too.

A new tradition would be good.

The Grove was alive with festive cheer. Lights twinkled in every direction filling the dark night with vibrant colours. Luke breathed in the sweet scent of roasting chestnuts with a content smile, wishing, not for the first time, that he could eat again. People bustled along the street, swarming the large tree that rose into the sky from the centre, and he gazed up at it in awe. Carlos had already run ahead, Reggie and Alex following him in excitement, but Luke and Julie strolled leisurely alongside Ray and Victoria as they wound their way towards it. 

She smiled at him, eyes alive with childish excitement, and he beamed back at her. He couldn’t risk popping into existence while her family was present – a skill he and the boys had been honing since they escaped Caleb – so he had to tamp down on the urge to solidify and take her hand. Settling for walking close enough that their arms brushed, running through one another every now and then, he revelled in the flashes of pure joy and goodness he felt emanating from Julie’s soul. 

There was something about Christmas that made anything feel possible. 

“Julie! Do you want hot chocolate?” Ray asked, stopping to nod at the long line forming by a food cart. 

She glanced at Luke again, then turned back and shook her head.

“I think I’m gonna go find a bathroom actually,” she said. “I’ll catch up with you guys in a minute?”

She left her dad and aunt in the queue, indicating with a small nod of her head for Luke to follow her, and he bounded after her with all the ill-concealed enthusiasm of a golden labrador puppy. As soon as they turned the corner down the street, out of sight of her family, Luke sucked in a breath and directed all his energy at forcing his body into existence. If any passersby noticed a boy suddenly pop into existence behind Julie, they didn’t question it.

“You’ve got to be more careful,” Julie hissed, unable to hide her amusement as he caught her by the waist from behind.

He laughed and twirled her around, pulling her away from the line of harried-looking Christmas shoppers hurrying past. 

“You were right, this is amazing,” he said. “I’ve never seen this many lights in one place before.”

Her expression softened and she leaned into him, her body warm in his arms. 

“It’s pretty cool, huh?”

“So did you actually need to find a bathroom?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“I just wanted to be able to talk to you without looking like a crazy person in front of my dad.”

“You could just tell him you’re being visited by the ghost of Christmas’ past.”

It was a terrible joke, but it had the intended effect. She threw her head back and laughed, but after a second her laughter trailed off and her eyes stayed fixed above them. Luke looked up. Twisted around the streetlight they stood under, in amongst a mixture of elegantly designed decorations, the small white berries of a mistletoe sprig stood stark against the Christmas colouring. Luke inhaled deeply, looking back at her, and Julie’s breath hitched as he caught her eye. 

“Mistletoe,” he said.

She nodded slowly.

“Can I…?” she asked, voice quiet as she titled her face towards his just a little.

For as long as he’d known her, Luke had thought Julie was an angel. Never had he been more sure of this than at that moment. The glow of the Christmas lights lit her silhouette in a golden glow, haloing around her hair, and her eyes sparkled with magic. She made him feel _alive._ There had been a lot of questions raised by life after death, never with the convenient answers he wanted, but the more he held Julie – the more he _looked_ at her – the more he thought he didn’t need answers. He was here because of her, pure and simple, no explanation needed. All of time and space had worked to bring their worlds together. 

She was a part of him and vice versa. 

“Yes,” he breathed, leaning down.

This was without a doubt, he thought as they kissed, the best Christmas ever.


End file.
